Ducks finally lose a game at Honda Center

ANAHEIM – Some team was going to hand the Ducks its first regulation loss at home and it took until a Tuesday night in the latter part of January for it to happen.

Who could have guessed it would be the Winnipeg Jets?

The Jets rode a decisive edge by Ondrej Pavelec over the Ducks’ Jonas Hiller in the goaltending department on this night, getting 40 saves from Pavelec to emerge with a 3-2 victory at Honda Center.

The Ducks (37-10-5) entered the game with the NHL's best home record at 20-0-2 and had won their past 10 games within their cozy comforts dating to a shootout loss to the Kings on Dec. 3. Early on, it looked as if they would add to both.

Cam Fowler put the Ducks up in the first with a power-play goal, but Blake Wheeler answered quickly and Andrew Ladd also put a puck past a shaky Hiller for a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.

Evander Kane ripped a wrist shot past Hiller for a shorthanded goal in the second. Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau pulled Hiller after he gave up three goals on 11 shots.

Afterward, Hiller shouldered the blame in a loss to a team that replaced coaches not long ago.

“I didn’t feel like I was really in the game,” said Hiller, who has lost two in a row after winning 14 straight starts. “It wasn’t a really good effort from my part. That’s too bad we couldn’t turn it around.”

Nick Bonino cut the lead to one at 10:18 of the third period with a rebound goal off a Jakob Silfverberg shot, but the Ducks could not complete the comeback this time despite firing 94 shots toward the Winnipeg net.

The Jets blocked 36 of those while the Ducks also missed the net on 16 attempts.

“We threw a lot over the net tonight for some reason,” Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf said. “I don’t know why. We were being a little bit too fine with the puck maybe.

“You’re going to have nights like that. It’s unfortunate this streak had to end like that.”